Ferguson praises Giggs on eve of 700th United appearance

MANCHESTER, England, Mar 2 (Reuters) Ryan Giggs will reach another milestone in his glittering career yesterday when he is due to become only the second Manchester United player in history to make 700 appearances for the club.

As long as manager Alex Ferguson picks him, as expected, for the Premier League match against Liverpool at Anfield, Giggs will move a step closer to Bobby Charlton's all-time club appearance record of 759 matches, set between 1956 and 1973.

Giggs, 33, made his debut for United almost exactly 16 years ago to the day when he appeared as a 17-year-old substitute in a 2-0 home defeat by Everton on March 2, 1991.

Since then he was gone on to win the European Cup once, the English League title eight times, the FA Cup four times and the League Cup twice.

All have been under Ferguson who praised the Welsh international left-winger for a ''phenomenal'' career today.

''Ryan is an exceptional person who has always prepared and behaved in the right way to be a top footballer, he has always looked after himself.

''But more importantly his incredible talent has never waned over a 16-year period. He is phenomenal.

''It is not easy in the modern game for players to show such loyalty to one club, but here at United we have Ryan, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville who have all been here all their careers.

''That is a great credit to our club and sends out a very good message to young players. You can have a long career here. He has been a great player -- and I think there is plenty more still to come.'' Giggs is contracted to United until 2008, but could well stay beyond that with Ferguson's assistant Carlos Queiroz saying he could imagine Giggs playing at the highest level with United well beyond that time.

Queiroz told the BBC: ''He has had an outstanding, amazing career. After 16 years Ryan Giggs is Manchester United.

''The way he plays, with so much fantasy, creativity and entertainment -- as well as what he does outside the pitch -- make him a role model for the game. We think he can continue at the highest level for another two or three years without any problems.'' Giggs jointly holds a record with former Liverpool players Phil Neal and Alan Hansen as the only men to have won eight English title championship medals.

A win for top-of-the-table United at Anfield would take Giggs closer to an unprecedented ninth championship medal -- with United still in the hunt for the Champions League and the FA Cup.

Reuters PDS DB2129